


Afghanistan

by bowties_Scarves_and_Plaid



Series: MacGyver Episode Tags [1]
Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: 2x12, Episode 2x12, Episode Tag, Mac's POV, mac+Jack
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-09
Updated: 2018-01-09
Packaged: 2019-03-02 15:35:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,946
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13321218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bowties_Scarves_and_Plaid/pseuds/bowties_Scarves_and_Plaid
Summary: This is an expansion of episode 2x12. I have expanded on the scenes we saw of Mac and Jack in Afghanistan and added a few of my own.





	1. Chapter 1

**Afghanistan 2011- 64 days until Jack ships home**

Mac had always used violence as a last resort. It could be an effective tool when trying to get a message across, but he preferred to try to use his words first. He had learned quickly, however, that many of the people in the army were more likely to punch first and ask questions later. He should’ve considered this when he picked up the rifle that had fallen on the floor, but he was never one to be able to ignore something that was broken. In fact, it was nearly impossible for him to ignore something that was broken, especially when he knew he could fix it.

He had barely even started taking the gun apart when it had been grabbed from his hands. Mac had just enough time to catch a glance of a very angry looking man before he received a punch to the face. He fell to his hands and knees, feeling blood start to drip down the corner of his mouth. Mac tried to turn back to the man and explain that it was just a misunderstanding, but the man just punched him again.

Now there was a crowd gathering and Mac knew that he had no option but to fight back. He was new to this unit and the other soldiers were clearly cheering for the man who kept punching him. Mac knew that if he got beaten too badly, he would never live it down. But if he put up a fight, he might be able to earn the respect of some of the soldiers.

Mac was not nearly as strong or as skilled of a fighter as this man, but he was fast and clever. He used these things to his advantage and managed to pin the man, at least he managed to mostly pin the man.

Then their superior came in and broke up the fight and told them that they would be working together. Mac tried to wrap his mind around the fact that this grunt with anger issues was going to be watching his back. He had never missed his days with Pena more.

But Mac believed in what he was doing, so if putting up with this guy for 64 days was what he needed to do to save lives, that’s what he would do. Mac had dealt with people doubting him and his skills all of his life, this Jack guy was no different than the rest. So Mac kept his cool when Jack ridiculed his age and size and looks. He even kept his cool when Jack brought up Pena, although he couldn’t stop himself from fighting back verbally.

When he and Jack finally separated that first day, Mac knew that neither of them was looking forward to any of the next 64 days.

**53 days until Jack ships home**

“Let’s go hamburger boy, we’ve got a bomb call to respond to,” Jack said as Mac climbed into the vehicle. Mac didn’t bother responding as he settled himself into the seat. Jack gave him a quick once over, probably checking his equipment, and then gunned the engine.

Over the past 11 days, they had developed an uneasy peace. It was a peace born out of necessity versus desire. They had no option but to work with each other and in this line of work that meant that they also had to trust and rely on each other. Mac couldn’t devote his full attention to defusing bombs if he didn’t trust Jack to have his back and likewise Jack couldn’t devote his full attention to keeping an eye out if he was worried about a bomb exploding.

Mac had learned that for all of his boasting and blustering, Jack was actually good at what he did. He could always find the best angles to watch Mac’s back from and he had never once been taken by surprise by enemy soldiers. Jack always knew where they would be coming from and took them out with surprising precision. Mac had started to greatly admire his skills.

His personality, however, was a different story. One thing that got on Mac’s nerves was that Jack never stopped talking. Mac had gotten so used to soldiers who just went in, did their job, and got out, that he was taken aback by Jack’s constant stream of jabber. Some days Mac ignored it and some days he responded to it, but Jack didn’t seem to care either way. Mac suspected that he could entertain himself by talking all day long.

It wouldn’t have been so bad, except that Jack’s two favorite subjects of conversation were complaining and making fun of Mac. And often those two things were combined. Jack complained about everything from the heat to having to work EOD to how slow Mac was.

“Okay, here we are,” Jack said, pulling Mac from his thoughts. Mac realized that he had been caught up in his head for the entire drive and hadn’t heard any of the information Jack had given him about the bomb.

“Remind me again what to expect,” Mac said a bit sheepishly. He figured a little embarrassment beat going into a house with incomplete information.

“Kid, I swear to god, you better stop tuning me out,” Jack said, but to Mac’s surprise, there was no heat behind the words.

“It’s not my fault you never stop talking. Sometimes I just need to think,” Mac grumbled

“Yeah, well there is such thing as thinking too much Angus,” Jack said his name as he always did, in a teasing way that was meant to get a rise out of Mac. Unfortunately for Jack, Mac had been dealing with that since he first introduced himself in preschool so he was used to it.

“There’s also such thing as thinking too little Dalton” Mac shot back with a smirk.

“Yeah whatever, let’s just get on with it. Sources say that this is a pretty simple IED. You shouldn’t have any problem disabling it. I’ll clear the house first and then set up shop on that roof.” Jack pointed, getting down to business. Mac nodded and pulled out his Swiss army knife to fiddle with while Jack cleared the house.  
Jack made quick work of it and then took his position. Mac headed in to defuse the bomb and sighed when Jack started complaining about the heat.

“I mean it’s just gross to be sweating all the time. Don't get me wrong, in Texas it got hot, but we had our ways of cooling down. A jump in a pond, a cold beer, a sprinkler. But here there is nothing, plus we have to wear these damn heavy uniforms…” Jack continued talking, but Mac stopped listening. He had finished his assessment of the bomb and started defusing it. For once the intel had been right. It was a pretty simple and crude design.

“Did you know that Afghanistan is about the size of Texas,” Mac found himself saying before he really realized he was talking. It seemed like Jack was rubbing off on him.

“What?” Came the surprised response.

“Well technically Texas is about 25,000 square kilometers larger, but it’s pretty close. Although Texas has like 8 million more people than Afghanistan.” Mac continued, the combination of doing something familiar with his hands and reciting facts was almost calming. That is until Jack started laughing.

“Oh my god, you are the biggest nerd I know. Seriously, why did I have to get saddled with the geekiest geek on the geek squad.” Jack said, still laughing. Mac would be lying if he said it didn’t sting a little. He had so much information in his head and loved sharing it with others, and the fact that the person he talked to most didn’t want to hear it was a downer.

“I’m almost done here,” Mac said when Jack’s laughter had died down. He tried to keep his tone even and wasn’t sure whether he succeeded or Jack just didn’t pick up on it. Either way, a grunted,

“Hurry up,” was the only reply.


	2. Chapter 2

**47 days until Jack ships home**

When Mac defused the bomb with a battery and gum wrapper, he knew that he had seen surprise and a bit of admiration in Jack’s eyes. It only lasted a second, and then Jack was back to teasing him, but it had been there.

In general, Jack didn’t seem to think much of “EOD nerds” as he called them. It seemed to Mac that Jack severely underestimated how difficult it was to actually disable a bomb. Jack would just tell him to hurry up and snip a wire or pull something out. He didn’t seem to realize how easy it would be to misread a bomb and make the wrong move.

But, after his stunt with the gum, Jack seemed to respect Mac’s skills a bit more. He still teased him, but it wasn’t as often and it seemed less mean-spirited than it had before.

There were many other bombs where Mac had to use unconventional ways to diffuse them and each time he did, Jack seemed to be impressed. Mac was just glad that Jack was beginning to respect his skills the way that Mac respected Jack’s.

**40 Days until Jack ships home**

Something went wrong when Mac clipped the wire. The bomb started beeping and his heart rate sped up to match it.

“Uh-oh” Mac breathed as he frantically searched for another way to shut down the bomb. He lay down on the floor to get a closer look.

“Did you just say uh-oh? What uh-oh? What’s going on? Did you set off the bomb? Is it going to ex-” Mac cut off Jack’s shouts by ripping the comm out of his ear. He had to focus and Jack’s shouting was not helping one bit.

Once he was free to think, Mac quickly looked over the bomb. Within a few moments, he had located the wire he needed to cut and did so. The beeping stopped and Mac slumped back with a relieved sigh.

He was just about to put his ear comm back in when the door burst open. Jack rushed in, gun drawn and took in the situation in front of him. Seeing that there were no enemies and the bomb was deactivated, Jack lowered his weapon.

“Don’t you ever do that again,” Jack yelled suddenly, causing Mac to jump.

“What?” Mac looked up at him in surprise. “It’s not like I cut the wrong wire on purpose.”

“No, not that boy genius, I mean go dark on me. You took out your comm and stopped responding.”

“That’s because you were yelling and I needed to concentrate!” Mac said, standing up so he was face to face with Jack. “In case you hadn’t notice, that’s a bomb right there and it was about to go off.”

“I know that smartass, but you need to stay in contact with me. For all I knew, you had been captured and the bomb was left to explode.” Jack said, his voice shaking with anger.

“I thought you were watching me through the window.”

“I was until you dropped to the floor suddenly, you were out of my sight of vision and not responding to comms.” Jack’s anger was fading and Mac saw a tiny flicker of fear behind it. He realized right then and there how seriously Jack took this job. Jack’s mission was to protect Mac and he would do anything to make sure that he was safe.

“You’re right, I’m sorry.” Mac apologized. He had never been good at blindly following orders, but in this case, they made perfect sense.

“Just don’t do it again,” Jack said gruffly, seeming slightly surprised at Mac’s sudden apology. Mac put back in his comm and lifted up the throat mic right to his mouth. As dramatically as possible he said,

“Aye aye Sergeant.” Mac tried to keep a serious face on, but his mouth quirked. Jack rolled his eyes and started walking away, but not before Mac saw a small smile on the older man’s face.

**32 days until Jack ships home**

Mac really didn’t think that Jack would follow him. They were given an order to head back to base and Jack was a stickler for orders. Mac, unfortunately, was not a very good soldier. He was, however, a great EOD tech and he knew there was a bomb somewhere in that town.

He ignored Jack’s yelling as he walked quickly away. He knew that this might very well be the last straw for Jack. By the time Mac found his way back to base, Jack would probably be long gone, off to serve his last month somewhere else.

Mac didn’t mind being on his own, although he did wish that he had help when he turned to face four angry hostiles with guns. Before Mac could think of a way out of the situation, the four men were on the ground.

Mac looked up in shock to see that Jack had followed him. Even though Jack was currently yelling at him, Mac couldn’t help but smile at the sound. He had really thought that Jack would drop him after the stunt he pulled. It had surprised Mac he had felt sad about that. Maybe it was because Mac had gotten used to Jack and he wasn’t ready to have to get used to a new person yet. Or maybe it was because, despite all of the teasing and gruffness, Mac found himself slowly starting to like Jack.

As Jack grumbled about how difficult it was to break in a knew EOD tech, Mac smiled because he knew that was Jack’s way of saying he didn’t want to work with anyone else.

Mac knew that in 32 days, Jack would be leaving and he would have to get a new overwatch, but for the time being, he was glad that Jack was sticking around and would have his back.


	3. Chapter 3

**28 days until Jack ships home**

“What’s the deal with that thing?” Jack asked as Mac peeled off his vest, grateful to shed the weight.

“What thing?”

“That little red knife” Jack gestured to Mac’s pocket where he had put his knife after taking it out of his gear.

“It’s useful,” Mac said, pulling it out and opening a few tools to show Jack.

“Yes I know, you find a way to use it every time you defuse a bomb, but I think there is more to it than that.”

“What do you mean?” Mac asked hesitantly. They had been together for a little over a month and even though there was no more animosity between them, they hadn’t exactly talked about a lot of personal things. Mac knew that Jack was from Texas because he never shut up about it. He knew that Jack had some family but no girl back home. And he knew that Jack thought his father had hung the moon and had been devastated by his death. Other than that, Mac didn’t know much about the older man.

“I mean…” Jack said, “that if it were just a useful tool, you would keep it in your gear. But you take that thing with you wherever you go kid. I’m guessing that means it has sentimental value.”

“My grandfather gave it to me,” Mac admitted since he knew that Jack was not likely to let this go. He sat down on a chair under the ruse of tying his boot, but really he wanted to hide his face against the sudden wave of emotion he felt when he thought about his grandfather.

“And are you close to your grandfather?” Jack asked the question slowly as if realizing this was unfamiliar territory.

“Yeah, um, I was. He practically raised me.” Mac said with a slight smile as the sadness passed and he thought about the good memories surrounding his grandfather.

“Was?” Jack said with a raised eyebrow. Mac had to hand it to the man, he didn’t miss a thing.

“Yeah, he um, he died a little over a year ago.” Mac turned his attention to the knife, keeping his hands busy by opening and cleaning all of the tools.

“It happened while you were here?”

“Yeah, I joined the army in part because of him, but he never supported the decision. He had let me go, however, and didn’t tell me about his failing health.” Mac’s voice shook with anger that he still felt about the situation. “My best friend Bozer took care of all of the arrangements. I flew home for the funeral and then flew right back here.” Mac didn’t really know why he was sharing all of this information with Jack. He hadn’t really talked about his grandfather’s death with anyone. Pena had asked about him, but he hadn’t pressured Mac when he had refused to give details.

“Why did you come back?”

“Because I had a job to do. I couldn’t sit at home grieving for my grandfather when I knew there were people out there getting hurt. My grandfather wouldn’t have wanted that.” Mac said firmly, flipping the knife open and wiping it off with a cloth

“I understand coming to this place to try to make someone proud,” Jack said and Mac knew that he meant it. Jack had mentioned that his father was in the Air Force. Mac had always figured that Jack had become a Delta to follow in his dad’s footsteps.

“Yeah,” Mac stood up and shut his knife, placing it back in his pocket. This conversation was getting steadily more personal and Mac didn’t really feel like talking anymore. “I’m going to get some water.” He said, grabbing his canteen. “You want some?”

“Nah, I’m good.” Jack seemed to recognize that the conversation was over and let Mac leave. Mac gratefully exited and headed to fill up his canteen, thinking about his grandfather the entire time.

**20 Days until Jack ships home**

“Kid, you better take this damn gun,” Jack said, holding it out to him. Mac once again shook his head and kept his hands firmly by his side.

“No, I don’t use guns.”

“Look, it’s okay if you are a bad shot, it doesn’t much matter if the target is two feet in front of you. You’re bound to hit something.” Jack said, waving the gun at him.

“I’m a good shot, that’s not the problem,” Mac said defensively. Anyone could be a good shooter if they knew the equations, and Mac, of course, knew the equations.

“Then what is the problem Pal?” Jack demanded. 

“I just don’t use them...I don’t like them,” Mac knew that Jack was growing more and more annoyed and that his weak excuses were not helping.

“You don’t like them,” Jack said in a disbelieving voice. “Then I think you are in the wrong place kid.”

“Well that’s one of the reasons why I became an EOD tech, so I wouldn’t have to carry a gun.”

“Even the nerds have to carry guns sometimes, like when the place they're headed to is particularly dangerous and their overwatch won’t have a clear line of sight the entire time,” Jack said through gritted teeth. “What are you going to do if you run into trouble and I can’t help you?”

“I’ll improvise,” Mac said with a shrug.

“Improvise?” Jack spat out the word like it was the worse thing he had ever heard. Mac had to admit that to a trained soldier like Jack, it just might be.

“I can make something to help me if I need to,” Mac protested. He was confident in his abilities to make something.

“Are you squeamish about killing people? Is that why you won’t take the gun?” Jack asked

“No, if I have to kill someone, I will,” Mac said knowing that sometimes to save many lives you had to sacrifice a few.

“MacGyver, if you don’t take this gun right now I am reporting you as unfit to serve and getting us taken off of this mission,” Jack threatened.

“Jack, I can do this. You and I have been together for 44 days. You have seen some of the things that I can do. I need you to trust me,” Mac pleaded.

“You have done some pretty amazing things, but I’m not sure how defusing a bomb with a stick of gum applies to you taking out hostiles with guns,” Jack said, but the anger was fading and Mac could tell that he was starting to win him over.

“I put my life in your hands every day. I trust in your abilities to keep me safe. Now, I need you to trust in my abilities. I can do this. We can do this,” Mac said, slight desperation seeping into his voice. Jack considered his words for a moment before responding,

“Okay, but if you get shot, you owe me a six-pack and a giant apology.”

“Deal,” Mac said, his face breaking into a huge grin.


	4. Chapter 4

**14 Days until Jack ships home**

Mac heard the fear in Jack’s voice as he ran to where the older man was. He did his best to remain positive and confident as he tried to figure out how to defuse the bomb. There was no way that he was losing Jack, not when he was just starting to like the guy.

“Jack, I’m going to get you home, okay buddy? I just need you to stay calm,” Mac said as his brain worked

“How the hell did I end up paired with a hamburger who can’t follow orders?” Jack asked in a shaky voice.

“You’re just that lucky,” Mac had figured out what to do and now his fingers started working, moving faster than they ever had before.

“Kid, I know you’ve got a big brain and everything, and I trust you, but when it comes to defusing bombs, you are slow,” Jack said as the seconds counted down.

“I go slow because I am afraid of making a mistake. My EOD training officer made a mistake and now he’s dead. So I double check and triple check everything. But, if I need to, I can go much faster.” Mac said, clipping a wire on the last word. The timer stopped with three seconds left. Mac gave a sigh of relief and fell back to a sitting position. “You’re good.” He said to Jack who immediately sat next to him. Jack let out a relieved, slightly hysterical laugh and clapped him on the shoulder.

“Thanks, brother,” He said, breathing heavily

“Don’t mention it,” Mac said as the full extent of what just happened began to hit him. He hadn’t allowed himself to think about it while it was happening, but now he realized how close they had both been to dying.

“Wait...so are you telling me that this entire time you could’ve been defusing the bombs three times as quickly?” Jack said, as what Mac said sunk in.

“Well no, didn’t you hear what I said?”

“Yeah, you said you were being overly cautious and checked it a million times before you did anything.”

“That isn’t what I said,” Mac argued

“Yeah, well whatever. I can’t believe they paired me with the most cautious EOD tech in the sandbox” Jack teased, but there was a smile on his face.

“That’s not...I’m not...Oh, I’m beginning to regret saving you.” Mac said, realizing that it was useless to argue. Once Jack had an opinion in his head, there was very little someone could do to change it.

“Yeah, well if you had just triple checked the bomb before defusing it, then I wouldn’t be alive right now.” Jack shot back

“Let’s get out of here,” Mac said, rolling his eyes. He knew that he was going to hear a lot about this over the next 14 days.

“Okay, but seriously kid, all jokes aside, thank you,” Jack said, looking more sincere and serious than Mac had ever seen him before. “You saved my life and I owe you one.”

“You’ve saved my life countless times,” Mac said, waving off the compliment.

“That’s true, and don’t you forget it. But you put yourself in imminent danger to help me, and I appreciate it.”

“Even if I disobeyed your order?” Mac couldn’t help but tease.

“Even then,” Jack replied, shoving him on the shoulder lightly, “But let’s try to follow Jack’s orders for the next 14 days please?”

“I thought we agreed never to talk about ourselves in the third person?” Mac said with a sigh as they started walking out of the building.

“Oh that’s right, I forgot,” Jack said and Mac couldn’t keep the smile off of his face. He was really going to miss the old man when he left.


	5. Chapter 5

**The morning of Jack’s departure**

Mac found himself lacing up his boots slower than normal. It was the day that he had been dreading for a while. Jack was shipping back home today. Mac was glad that Jack was leaving this god-awful place and that he would be safe back home with his family, but he was going to miss him. 

He had gotten used to Jack over the past 64 days. The constant talking, the very texas stories, the teasing. When they had first started working together, Mac had been counting the days until Jack left and each of those things drove him crazy. Now, however, he was going to miss all of Jack’s quirks.

Knowing that he was only delaying the inevitable, Mac sighed and stood up. He walked out of the tent and saw that Jack was just outside. Jack paused from where he appeared to have been pacing.

“So this is it,” The words sounded lame to Mac, but he couldn’t think of anything else to say.

“Yep, this is it,” Jack responded as he took a few steps closer and looked at Mac carefully. “You gonna be okay?”

“Me? I won’t have somebody blabbering in my ear all day about Texas, I’ll be great,” Mac tried to sound as happy as possible.

“Yeah, alright,” Jack said with a smile. He looked at Mac for a few more moments before suddenly grabbing him and pulling him into a huge hug. Mac was so stunned that he didn’t move at first. “I never thought I’d be saying this when I first met ya, but I’m really going to miss you kid,” Jack said gruffly. Mac slowly brought his arms up to return the hug.

“Yeah, I’m going to miss you too, big guy,” Mac said and Jack pulled away, but still kept his hands on Mac’s upper arms.

“I mean, you are still a weird kid with an even weirder name and I think you’ve raised my blood pressure these last 64 days, but I am still gonna miss you.”

“You’ll forget all about me and the stress I caused as soon as you can see Texas,” Mac said with a smile.

“Oh, I wouldn’t be so sure. You’ve made an impression, Angus MacGyver.” Jack said, a teasing tone entering his voice when he said his name.

“So have you, Jack Dalton. You’ve better go before you miss your plane.” Mac said, stepping back so Jack’s hands dropped off his arms.

“I’ll be seeing you kid,” Jack said and with a wave turned and walked away. 

“Doubt it,” Mac whispered when he was out of earshot. He knew the likelihood of seeing each other again was very low. Even if Mac made it home in one piece, he lived in California and Jack lived in Texas. Besides, Mac hadn’t really been joking when he said Jack would forget about it. After all, they had only been together for 64 days.

**Later that day**

Mac was fiddling with a paperclip, trying to dispel his nerves about meeting his new overwatch. He knew that even if he liked the person he was paired with, it was still going to feel strange to be without Jack. But he was a survivor and he knew that he would eventually adapt to the new person like he had adapted to all of the changes in his life.

Mac was caught up in his thoughts so the appearance of Jack next to the car caused him to jump. He looked at the man in surprise as he climbed into the car. 

Mac was shocked to hear that Jack’s reason for staying was him. Jack thought that he was important enough to need protecting. He was touched in ways that he couldn’t really voice, and he knew Jack wouldn’t really appreciate him getting all mushy. But he hoped that Jack could tell that it meant a lot to him that Jack had stuck around.

“Mac,” He said instead as he started the car.

“What?” Jack looked at him in confusion

“My friends all call me Mac.”

“Is that what we are now? Friends?” Jack said with a grin. Mac rolled his eyes and started driving.

“Yes”

“Well okay, but I’m not sure about this whole Mac and Jack rhyming thing,” Jack said

“It’s better than listening to you call me hamburger for the rest of the tour,” Mac responded.

“Fair enough, so where are we headed Mac?” Jack asked, and for the first time, there was no hint of teasing as he said his name. Mac smiled widely as he started to explain where they were going. He felt slightly selfish, but he was glad that Jack had decided to stay. There was no one who he’d rather have watching his back.


End file.
